Project
Postharvest Network
About one third of the world’s food is either lost or wasted before consumption, leading to considerable negative impact on food security, use of scarce resources and economic opportunities. In developing and emerging countries, inefficiencies in the postharvest value chain such as cooling, storage, processing and transportation are the most significant causes of this loss. Turning this loss into opportunities for value chains actors and society at large is what the Postharvest Network ambitions.
The Postharvest Network (PHN) is led by Wageningen Food and Biobased Research and combines expertise, experience and efforts to create sustainable and scalable postharvest solutions for developing countries and emerging markets. The PHN strives to reduce postharvest food losses, enhance food security, reduce pressure on scarce resources and create economic opportunities by stimulating stakeholders in co-operation with local governments, experts and companies to provide their experience and expertise on a basis of mutual benefit.
The Postharvest Network ambitions to create viable solutions to reduce postharvest losses. The experts know how to analyze food supply chains and how to trace food losses. They also know where to find the expertise to implement practical and proven solutions and how to create coalitions of the willing.
The Postharvest Network executes projects in: Vietnam, Kenya, Benin, Nigeria, India, and other countries. Experts of the Postharvest Network are regularly key speaker on high level conferences. By doing so awareness on food loss and waste is created, knowledge and expertise is shared, and taskforces to reduce food loss and waste are set up.